I
always thought Platonic was used because we all know he was a philosopher,
therefore a thinker, therefore this is love which relates to the head more than
any other part of the body. In other words - it's a get-out clause when
someone just wants to be friends. As someone who doesn't know Plato too
well it's easy to come to that conclusion so I guess this one goes back to the
old debate on defining languages - do we 'prescribe' correct usage, or
'describe' actual usage.
Anyway, I thought that was a funny post from Clarke so
temporarily stopped lurking. I'm a Literature graduate working in the
music field who happens to be reading ZAMM at the moment - I subscribed to this
list because it's referred to in the introduction (the irritatingly incomplete
introduction in the 25th anniversary ed.). It's been very interesting and
certainly makes reading the book a more 'dynamic' experience. I will now
lurk again before saying anything (else) foolish - I look forward to finding
time to finish the book, take on Lila and perhaps contributing something
worthwhile later on down the line.
Elephant/Horse - on your names, keep them if you
thought them up. Drop them if you feel uncomfortable now. I like
them.
Regards,
Tim
-----Original Message-----What does 'platonic love' refer to?
From: elephant [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 17 May 2001 21:15
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: MD "friends"
I think it may have something to do with Socrates corrupting the youth by refusing to sleep with them. Or, rather, than he consents to sleep with his male admirers but then goes and does just that, snore snore, to the consternation of his suitors. I think the relevant dialogues are the Phaedrus and the Symposium. Particularly the Symposium. Both are a discussion of the various loves, and both talk about the relation of these to sex. Both also set this notion going about there being 'higher' love than physical relations, which (to judge from the actions of the greek gods) was not a very current idea at the time.
I'll bet that's where christianity get's it's mindset from too. Se Augustine. Also C.S. Lewis 'The four loves'.
Yours Puzzled, E.
(Following a substance awareness course I note that both 'elephant' and 'horse' are colloquial terms for illegal powders. What can we do? Drop the names? Mount a campaign for the reclamation of our tongue? Did we perhaps start this usage unknowingly? Is any quadrapedal pseudonym safe? And the quadrapeds?)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 10:18:50 EDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: MD "friends"
Hey Folks:
It's somewhat of a colloquialism to refer to a male/female non-sexual
relationship as "Platonic". My incredible intellect leads me to believe that
this may have something to do with Plato. What little I've read of Plato has
never touched upon this derivative. In fact it seems as if Aristotle has
written more on the various types of friendshipsthan has Plato. Perhaps it
has somehting to do with the "forms" or "ideals"? I would venture to say
that 99.9% of the people who use this word have no idea of it's true source.
As I am still in that number, can someone enlighten me?
Clarke
P.S. Is it "Platonic" when she won't, but you want to?
